Christian psychology

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · Eric L. Johnson, Robert C. Roberts, P. J. Watson · 2004

What it is

Christian psychology is a movement and framework, not a single manualised therapy. The SCP states that it aims to develop a psychology "fundamentally shaped by the Christian Scriptures" and by Christian thinking, practice and research. Modern psychology is treated as a resource that must be…

Format

• The movement has no single session protocol, session count or phase manual; none is published in the sources used or on the publisher pages. The nearest worked example is Langberg's chapter in Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches (2012), where each of five contributors applies their…
• Moving on: Johnson's titles call these "parts" of one process. Expect them to overlap and to repeat across a course of therapy rather than to run strictly one after another.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• C. Format. Individual outpatient psychotherapy by a licensed clinician is the usual format implied. Tan adds referral to church groups, support groups or group therapy so the work does not stay individualistic. Session counts are not specified.
• Version followed: the Christian psychology movement as defined by the Society for Christian Psychology (SCP, now a division of the American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC) and as systematised in Eric L. Johnson's Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal (IVP Academic, 2007; paperback 2014). Clinical procedures come from Diane Langberg's three-phase trauma model (known through a review of…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Over-identification with clients, and rescuing.
• Diluting effective techniques until they lose effect.
• Readings that reinforce shame or scrupulosity, and reading load during depression.
• Covert persuasion or value imposition. It is working when the client experiences respect and steady hope.
• Prayer in which the counsellor prescribes outcomes, or that implies the client lacks faith if not healed.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.